The Condé Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys: Great Writers on Great Places

by Klara Glowczewska (Editor, Introduction)

From the #1 travel magazine in the country, a collection of travel tales from some of today's finest writers

Travel writing maintains its seemingly endless popularity, and this volume offers a particularly transporting body of work, pairing exotic locales with writers of the highest caliber: Russell Banks writes on the Everglades, Francine Prose explores the secrets of Prague, Robert Hughes takes us on a tour of Italy, and more. From the most beautiful gardens to visit in Japan to the best free things to do in Provence, this book is as enlightening as it is entertaining. Whether off to the other side of the globe or to their favorite reading chair, wanderers of every sort will find this book truly indispensable.

Other featured writers and places include:
Nik Cohn on Savannah
Philip Gourevitch on Tanzania
Shirley Hazzard on Capri
Pico Iyer on Iceland and Ethiopia
Nicole Krauss on Japan
Suketu Mehta on the Himalayas
Edna O'Brien on Bath
Patricia Storace on Provence and Athens
James Truman on Iran
Gregor Von Rezzori on Romania
Edmund White on Jordan
Simon Winchester on Mount Pinatubo
William Dalrymple on his pilgrimage to Santiago
John Julius Norwich on the Vatican
Jan Morris on Hawaii

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Essays, Anthologies, History, Memoir, Short Stories

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2007

Reviews

[Katie Marquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another travel book to pick up when you're bored with your town, wishing you were on the road again. These books are like medication to me - without them, I'd be suffering from serious travel sickness. Since there are stories from so many different writers, one of them is sure to strike a chord with you. Good stuff.

[Caitlin Conlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never read a collection of just travel writing before, and I enjoyed getting to “visit” all of these places through the essayists. Some of the writers were certainly better than others, & I felt that there needed to be a page limit imposed—some of the essays were just too long for what they needed to be, and added to the 400+ page total which felt a little excessive. I’m glad to have read this, but it isn’t a book I’m going to be keeping.

[Relyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was more a book that I wish I liked than a book I actually enjoyed. It's one of those that you pick up and wish you liked such literary, in-depth offerings. It's like reading the New Yorker - I don't do it, but it sure seems like I should. These travelers' essays were too hmmmmm... Well, I guess just not entertaining enough to keep me reading.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good collection of travel writing by some gifted writers. About all the traveling one can do in these these pitiful days and no mask required. As someone pointed out in another travel anthology, such writing is as much about time travel as place travel. Most of these writings date from the 90s and early 2000s. Outdated I suppose in some ways, timeless in others. Czech Republic, England, Ethiopia, Florida, France (Provence), Georgia (USA), Greece, Hawaii, the Himalayas, Iran, Italy (3x), Japan, Jordan, Philippines, Romania, Spain (2x), Tanzania. So many interesting and amazing places--so little time. And a nice little travel tips or feature sections at the end of each article.

[Carla Catalano · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys contained some very fine non-fiction travel stories - mostly unforgettable and trips of a lifetime taken by eminent contributors, journalists, art critics, and more. The rest of the stories, some of those in between the good ones....well - maybe they were a little forgettable. This collection is a selection of 21 reports from the magazine over the last two decades. My favorites (including quotes) are France: A Country Made For Living, "Carpentras strawberries, however, are superb, as perfumed as flowers, and so melting that eating one is like a kiss on the lips." Iceland: The Loneliest place on Earth, "The government has worked overtime to protect its culture - ban on Thursday TV & no broadcasting during the month of July... It's efforts are in vain and Iceland now boasts the highest number of VCRs per household in the world." The Phillipines: Beauty & The Beast, "The world's most beautiful and most symmetrical volcanoes are there, but if you choose to visit, you risk being bombarded by hot boulders, swept into newly torn crevasses, licked by gusts of flames, drowned in lava, or sucked up by some terrible pyroclastic wind, roasted and done to a crisp." and Tanzania: Where The Wild Things Are, "At dawn, with the sun huge and red on the horizon and the softly stirring air loud with the primal breakfast-hour jabber of wild things in the bush, I awake to find myself uneaten. It is a marvelous way to start the day -- triumphantly whole."

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first found out about this book, it sounded so good that it was worth spending the extra amount I usually spend on used books to buy it.

It was.

The various authors are very good- evocative and generous and inventive in their use of descriptive words about some of the world's most impressive places.

It only enhanced things to read of some that I had previously visited: Petra, Hawaii's big island, the Camino de Santiago, the Vatican.

Then again, reading about the underground rock-hewn churches in Eithiopia...amazing.

Apparently there is no known way to make Romania a place I'd like to even skim through, however.

This compendium comes highly recommended.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great not terrible. Some stories were better than others. Not a book I’d want to read at one sitting but not a bad book to keep in the glove box of your car for times you are stuck waiting and need something to read.

[Sumi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull lengthy outdated one. I don’t like to quit the book in between; otherwise I would have kept this one out of my sight within a few pages itself. To me, it’s a good sleep medicine, many times I slept without realizing it with the few pages I read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent essays, though much of the info is dated.

[Courtney Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was drier than the wine I drank while reading it. I’ve had to give up on it because it’s slowing me down so much and there’s more I really want to read.

[Karmen]

Though the book was published 2007, I found it still very informative.
Lots of notes to follow up and pursue.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories haven’t aged well but others were great.

[Julie Schreiber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Travel books are nice but the takeaway of every story is kinda just “the world is vast”

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format of this book is quite interesting and potentially useful (assuming one might actually travel to Provence, Iceland, Japan, or Iran): each chapter is by a writer, travel or otherwise, about a journey they took to a particular place and at the end of the travel essay, there is a brief article of 2-3 pages by the editorial staff of the magazine (Conde Nast Traveler) including salient practical advice about visiting the locale covered in the essay.
Since I am addicted to France, it was a good change for me to read about other countries, including my own. The only section on a US city was on Charleston, and it was quite fascinating. I'm reasonably certain I will never go on safari, so it was ideal "arm-chair traveling" to read about a couple on such a journey. Iceland sounds like a great (and inexpensive) place to visit, but I suspect that my addition to La Belle France is unabated and my "book rehab" was in vain.

[pnutbutterprincess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whatever it was that I was looking for in picking up a travel book, this was certainly not it. Some of the accounts were alright to read, like the one on the everglades, but most were either pretentious or somehow managed to make the location less inviting for their having written about it, e.g. the rise in both crime and whore-houses in Spain, the decrease of charm and culture in Iceland, and the way that everywhere seems to be too crowded. The only reason apparently that most of these writers enjoyed their travels was because they had either a buttload of money or high-up/well-to-do connections. My own desire to travel has not been eradicated by this collection, thankfully, just tempered with a decreased desire to read old peoples' accounts of destinations and to discover the locations for myself.

[Lynn Freeborn]

Pico Iyer's fabulous story, Heaven's Gate, tells a very funny and moving tale of his trip to Lalibela, the sacred site of eleven rock hewn churches in Northern Ethiopia. Over the Christmas holiday, and in an effort to avoid what the Western world has made of same, "[he'd] set off ... with a box of plain Cheerios, some chocolate-covered espresso beans, and an English investment banker with a mosquito net. The I. B. ... was a disciple of Evelyn Waugh's, anxious to set back any Anglo-Ethiopian relations that might have healed since the great man's visit." In fact, Iyer shares with us how his trip to Ethiopia "really was the way to get to the heart of Christmas, and of almost everything else." Really good stuff.

[Lianne]

Published in 1987, and drawing on long articles from the Conde Nast publications, this anthology contains some wonderful essays by eminent travel writers such as Pico Iyer on Iceland and Ethiopia, James Truman on Iran and Simon Winchester on the Philippines. Each of these pieces is a classic, providing insight and crafted descriptions for the armchair and real traveler. There are two other Conde Nast anthologies that were published later, probably because of the success of this book. Each essay is also accompanied by an annotated bibliography about the country or topic featured in the essay. Because literary travel is my favorite genre, this rich compilation is one that I will purchase to keep, share with others and reread.

[Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a wonderful collection of fascinating stories from unexpected travel destinations. There is a beautiful description of the Provence region in France and fund journeys through so many other out of the way places.

They enhanced the book by adding a portion at the end of each chapter with a "guide" to the area, often covering useful information about what the author had described, so if you ever find yourself so lucky as to be traveling there...you will already have a start on what to do.

[kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the range of stories in this collection, especially when they were written. It is always amusing to read stories set even 5 years earlier as events around the world cause massive changes in culture, geography, and perceptions for the traveller. I also really liked how at the end of each story the author wrote a few extra pages with information on all the places visited in the story bridging the gap between literature and guidebook.

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank God for Edna O'Brian who wrote the most intriguing of the pieces. Unless you have been to most of the locations listed, the book can quickly become uninteresting, although some readers have said that they enjoyed the arm chair travel. I'm still chewing on this book, and will write something about it this coming Friday on my blog (an expat living in the Netherlands):
my link text

[Emily Von pfahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays by different authors is an enjoyable read, although some were much more entertaining and informative than others. I do wonder about the inclusion of Savannah, Georgia on a list of "unforgettable journeys," but to each his own. A great arm chair travel read, especially for the more dangerous trips such as climbing volcanoes in the Philippines or going on a sightseeing safari in Tanzania.

[Rachel Vives · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful way to grab those special little clips from great vacations. It is only somewhat educational, but mostly, it's like a personal diary and it makes you feel like you're along for the ride. An easy read and really enjoyable. The Iceland story is particularly interesting and I am inspired to find out more about visiting that part of the world.

[priya bhayana · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love travel writing, and this is a pretty great compilation. each one has an interesting narrative and focuses on the history of the destination as well as the author's personal expectations of the trip. definitely not leisure travel essays - many have to do with the author's research or other focused personal interest.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were somewhat hit or miss. Some of the stories were terrific and seemed current (volcano hiking in the Phillipines), while others seem dated and didn't make me interested in travelling to the specified region at all (Japanese gardens, Hungarian wildlife). I'd suggest only reading the stores of regions you are interested in traveling to.

[John Orman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book of travel writing by famous authors.
I liked Jan Morris' description of Hawaii as the Haunted Land, describing several of the Big Island's "sacred sites."

Philip Gourevitch's essay on his safari in zTanzania was spot-on, reminding me of my own safari in Kenya 25 years ago.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better off as articles...some stand out pieces and some good writing. Pick and choose based on areas of the world that interest you, or read through and skip those that are lagging (they don't pick up towards the end).

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Christmas present from my sister-in-law and her husband. A very enjoyable read. It is a collection of the best travel writing from Conde Nast magazine. If you like traveling and reading about traveling you might enjoy this.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it and gave it to the flight attendant. Some articles, like the ones on Ethiopia and the Himalayas, were fascinating. Others, like the Provence one, made me want to suffocate myself in a field of heather. Moving on...

[Cindy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some stories are better than others, as with most compilations of various writers and writing styles. I quite enjoyed all the visuals of reading this book and a lot of the historical facts at the end of each short story were really interesting. A fun book with a lot of great writing!

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few 4 star essays, a few 2 star essays. Surprisingly the ones I enjoyed were not about places I'd considered traveling, and the ones I found the most boring were about places I've enjoyed traveling. Odd.